Beyond the Rocks

They could not stand in this packed group all the time, the whole dozen

or more of them, and they gradually broke up into twos and threes about

the large room.

They were delightfully friendly with one another, and all seemed in the

best of spirits and tempers.

Most of them had no ulterior motive in their behavior to Theodora; it

was merely the feeling that they were not the hostess and responsible.

It was none of their business if Ada neglected her guests, and they all

knew plenty of people and did not care to enlarge their acquaintance

gratuitously.

So when they came in from the dining-room more than one of the men

understood the picture they saw, of the beautiful, little, strange lady

seated alone, while the other women chatted together in groups.

Hector was feeling irritated and excited, and longing to get near

Theodora. He guessed Lord Wensleydown would have the same desire, and

had no intention of being interfered with. He felt he could not bear to

spend an evening watching the little brute daring to lean over her. He

should kill him, or commit some violence, he knew.

Thus prudence, which at another time would have held him--would have

made him remember what was best for her among this crowd of hostile

women--flew to the winds. He must go to her--must show her he loved and

would protect her, and, above all, that he would permit no other man to

usurp his place.

And Theodora, who had been suffering silently a miserable feeling of

loneliness and neglect, felt her heart bound with joy at the sight of

his loved, familiar face, and she welcomed him more warmly than she had

ever done before.

"Have these demons of women been odious to you, darling?" he whispered,

hardly conscious of the term of endearment he had used. "Do not mind

them; it is only jealousy because you are so beautiful and young."

"They have not been anything at all," she said, softly; "they have just

left me alone and kept to themselves, and--and laughed at Josiah, and

that has made me very angry, because--what has he done to them?"

"I loathe them all!" said Hector. "They are hardly fit to be in the same

room with you, dear queen--and if you really belonged to me I would take

you away from them now--to-night."

His voice was a caress, and that sentence, "belonged to me," always made

her heart beat with its pictured possibilities. Oh, how she loved him!

Could anything else in the world really matter while he could sit there

and she could feel his presence and hear his tender words?